Man Awarded $80 Million in Roundup Lawsuit

THURSDAY, March 28, 2019 (HealthDay News) --A California man who said that Monsanto's weed killer Roundup caused his cancer was awarded $80 million in damages by a jury in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The same six-person jury previously found that Roundup was a significant factor in Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the Associated Press reported.

Hardeman, 70, said in his lawsuit against Monsanto that he used Roundup products to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his San Francisco Bay Area property for years.

Monsanto says studies have shown that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is safe and said it plans to appeal, the AP reported.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions, according to the news service.

In August, a different jury awarded another man $289 million in a Roundup-related lawsuit, but a judge later cut that to $78 million. Monsanto has appealed that case.

Hardeman's lawsuit may be more important than that previous case because U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria, who is overseeing hundreds of Roundup lawsuits, considers Hardeman's case and two others "bellwether trials," the AP reported.

That means the results of those cases could influence lawyers' decision about continuing to pursue similar lawsuits or settling them.